9 ms·

Mmmm, but sometimes I've contemplated the hypothetical worst case scenarios for having to support a copper/fiber plant deployment, and what that might actually

Mmmm, but sometimes I've contemplated the hypothetical worst case scenarios for having to support a copper/fiber plant deployment, and what that might actually look like, once you get out into the residential field. I'm not saying I'm casting a sympathetic eye toward conglomerate post-monopoly abominations like Verizon & AT&T. Far from it. What I am saying is that as nerds, we really only want to think it looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPNK7bc2qvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPNK7bc2qvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOZV7ugBas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOZV7ugBas But actually, it's more often closer to waiting tables for no tips, in homes consumed by pet smells, infested by perverts, losers and arm chair quarterbacks, pissed off that they've elected to pay for systems that can still suffer outages, just like any vaguely fault-tolerant network. Sometimes, as a subscriber of such systems, the faults hit you. That's kind of what this article is drawing your eye toward. You wonder: "How the fuck can a business seemingly employ only monsters, operate policies concocted from purest evil, offer zero options, get propped up as a monopoly by the worst parts of government funding and compliance, and still turn a profit where so many other business would instantly implode and vaporize?" Part of the answer is that like airlines, they offer essential services to the general public, such that modern civilization may function, and enjoy utilities nearly as valuable as hot water, and they know it. But, the other part is that in order to interface with the gears of a transmission, contact must transmit the forces of the drive train, and that part that makes contact with the customers is that customer service interface, and like the face of an interleaving set of gears, it must be a reflection of ourselves, on some level. The customer service, in other words, is as abominable as the common customer. Disclaimer: I've had friends that work in cable service call centers, who have suffered through high call volume outages, and the calls they would tell me about were ever bit as psychotic and soul crushing as some of the anecdotes from the author of this article.

paultopia 8y ago
I think this is true up to a point, but only up to a point. After all, there are lots of mass market essential services that work much, much, better than cable (or the airlines), and as a result aren't as universally hated. In most US cities the power only goes out when lightning hits something or there's a freak heat wave and everyone turns their A/C on at once (or when there are genuine shortages, like in the old CA rolling brownouts). When the power does go out, the power company typically doesn't lie to you. The same was largely true of landline telephone services back in the day, and, in all honesty, is remarkably true of modern cellphone services (although there's a ton of crookedness about price, for the most part they seem to actually supply services they say they do). In a way, it's actually egalitarian: for the most part cellphone companies, water utilities, etc., when they do abuse their customers, limit their abuses to money stuff and hence pretty much only abuse the poor. (This is less true about airlines but not completely untrue, witness first class and high frequent flier statuses). It's refreshingly fair that with cable companies in this country you can't get decent service at any price; hedge fund managers and janitors have basically the same terrible experience. Maybe that's part of why there's so much anger at the cable companies, actually, because so many people who they mistreat aren't used to being mistreated by everyone else. And why so many of the customers are badly behaved.
- small_mind 8y ago
  Oh yes, definitely. But, you have to account for a crucial differences with physical medium transmission networks, where transmission fidelity counts. The physical medium (the wire) must remain contiguous/unabraided and suffer minimal crosstalk interference. This means the perfection of signal quality is being directly inspected by the customer, and that the product is non-portable, highly technical, and in personal, private spaces within the home. Water and power are non-portable, but signal is purely graded by volume sufficiency being present or absent. So, to test, it’s either on or off, and once it’s on, job’s done. Very little haggle or complaint. Water quality is typically promised to be solved prior to the last mile, and last mile concerns are on the subscriber. Not quite so with digital service. With cellular/wireless service, the last mile appliance is defacto portable. It’s a plain fact that handsets are pocket sized and semi-disposable/planned for obsolescance as a known quantity of the bargain, by now, at least. With airlines, the variability of routing, origin/destination weather and ground realities combined with traveller fatigue, long haul concerns like sleeping in shared liminal zones means degrees of conflict are always on the table, so stewards, ushers, hosts and attendants expect static and noise, but require home-court advantage to operate. Basically, cell providers can operate from beyond line of sight with wireless automation. True utilities like water and power can solve for quality centrally, and reduce field service to a binary volume of supply verification. Meanwhile, airlines and and cable/phone companies must supply near perfect end-to-end coverage, and verify quality assurance in places where you sleep, confronting tired cranky people, where they relax, AS they relax (or try and fail to do so). That fact can’t be dispelled with a hand wave.
  - paultopia 8y ago
    I think there's a lot to that. I wonder if landline telephone is the best comparator for cable. It would be really interesting to dig into the history, especially around the AT&T breakup, to see if telephone at a similar stage had similar problems.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - 8y ago

paultopia 8y ago

I think this is true up to a point, but only up to a point. After all, there are lots of mass market essential services that work much, much, better than cable (or the airlines), and as a result aren't as universally hated. In most US cities the power only goes out when lightning hits something or there's a freak heat wave and everyone turns their A/C on at once (or when there are genuine shortages, like in the old CA rolling brownouts). When the power does go out, the power company typically doesn't lie to you. The same was largely true of landline telephone services back in the day, and, in all honesty, is remarkably true of modern cellphone services (although there's a ton of crookedness about price, for the most part they seem to actually supply services they say they do). In a way, it's actually egalitarian: for the most part cellphone companies, water utilities, etc., when they do abuse their customers, limit their abuses to money stuff and hence pretty much only abuse the poor. (This is less true about airlines but not completely untrue, witness first class and high frequent flier statuses). It's refreshingly fair that with cable companies in this country you can't get decent service at any price; hedge fund managers and janitors have basically the same terrible experience. Maybe that's part of why there's so much anger at the cable companies, actually, because so many people who they mistreat aren't used to being mistreated by everyone else. And why so many of the customers are badly behaved.

small_mind 8y ago
Oh yes, definitely. But, you have to account for a crucial differences with physical medium transmission networks, where transmission fidelity counts. The physical medium (the wire) must remain contiguous/unabraided and suffer minimal crosstalk interference. This means the perfection of signal quality is being directly inspected by the customer, and that the product is non-portable, highly technical, and in personal, private spaces within the home. Water and power are non-portable, but signal is purely graded by volume sufficiency being present or absent. So, to test, it’s either on or off, and once it’s on, job’s done. Very little haggle or complaint. Water quality is typically promised to be solved prior to the last mile, and last mile concerns are on the subscriber. Not quite so with digital service. With cellular/wireless service, the last mile appliance is defacto portable. It’s a plain fact that handsets are pocket sized and semi-disposable/planned for obsolescance as a known quantity of the bargain, by now, at least. With airlines, the variability of routing, origin/destination weather and ground realities combined with traveller fatigue, long haul concerns like sleeping in shared liminal zones means degrees of conflict are always on the table, so stewards, ushers, hosts and attendants expect static and noise, but require home-court advantage to operate. Basically, cell providers can operate from beyond line of sight with wireless automation. True utilities like water and power can solve for quality centrally, and reduce field service to a binary volume of supply verification. Meanwhile, airlines and and cable/phone companies must supply near perfect end-to-end coverage, and verify quality assurance in places where you sleep, confronting tired cranky people, where they relax, AS they relax (or try and fail to do so). That fact can’t be dispelled with a hand wave.
- paultopia 8y ago
  I think there's a lot to that. I wonder if landline telephone is the best comparator for cable. It would be really interesting to dig into the history, especially around the AT&T breakup, to see if telephone at a similar stage had similar problems.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - 8y ago